News of the tragedy on the set of “Rust” is rocking the film production community this morning, and I’m completely heartbroken for everyone involved. To die, or to inadvertently cause someone’s death, in the normal course of doing your work is just unthinkably horrible.
It’s really, really important that all of us who have anything to do with film—from the largest Hollywood studios to other companies who do small- and micro-budget promotional shoots like we do at CitizenRacecar—use this as an opportunity to recommit ourselves to on-set safety, on every shoot and on every level.
No one should be forced to work tired, ever. Everyone should have reasonable working hours and ample breaks for meals and personal hygiene. Everyone should have the resources and equipment they need to do things properly and safely. No one should be operating equipment they aren’t qualified to operate. These are simple, common-sense things, and it’s shocking how often they aren’t done on sets of every size.
I make absolutely no accusations that these things weren’t done on the set of that film, but it’s be recommitting ourselves to these basic measures that we can make something positive come out of such a horrible a tragedy.
As Producers, the health and safety of our co-workers has to be our number one priority, always.
-David
